[CQ-Contest] Who says c'mon first, chicken or egg?

[Jim White]

In my contesting youth, it was understood that you had to make your bones
operating from home and show that you could among other things keep your
buttocks in the chair for the whole contest.  After showing repeated
improvement in your activities (and beating out some of the other locals in
a pile up or two leaving them wondering who the heck is that guy) THEN you
might have been approached regarding operating from a multi-op.

This invitation was one you earned by demonstrating you were indeed
interested in a demanding endeavor - contesting.  You were invited because
it was felt you had the ability to add something to an operation...and once
again you had to make your bones.

You started out at the multis as low man on the totem pole - you were the
guy on 10 meters at the bottom of the cycle or the one on what was probably
a dead band...making sure that a freak opening did not happen and the TEAM
you now were a part of didn't miss it...probably didn't happen but you were
there to make sure it was not missed - while not running 150 an hour it was
a contribution to the effort!  Now you could watch and learn...you were like
a sponge absorbing everything you saw, be it software techniques like
hitting the plus key to both log and send tnx, or when a long path opening
on 20 might occur...you were now in "the fast lane".

The best way to get to the point where the ability to gain operating
expertise sufficient to earn you an invite was to join the local contest
club, by now you knew of their existence because you were familiar with the
calls of most of its members and had seen them as high scorers in club
competitions...so, you took the next logical step and you joined the contest
club where members understood why you would want to spend an entire weekend
in front of the rig.

Now you had the ability to pick the brains of sages at club meetings, to
"walk up the hill" and ask those questions which had troubled you - be they
"how long should I call CQ before giving up on a band?"..."should I be
running or S&Ping?"..."how fast should I call CQ at?"...

New guys are welcome in the contesting fraternity, contesters are a
possessed breed, with a major MAJOR focus on their operating - they have
made major commitments in terms of both time and money in order to contest
effectively. Having more contesters in the fold means longevity of the part
of the hobby that they enjoy most (plus another QSO in SS) - since you might
be a newbie and have found the contest-reflector (they didn't have this when
I was in your shoes) - welcome aboard!

If you are a newbie contester in Florida and are looking to get into
contesting I know that the membership of

The Florida Contest Group

will welcome you with open arms...if want to find out more - check out the
cool club website listed below!

73 (it is NOT 73s, it is already plural!)

Jim, K4OJ
Tampa, FL
k4oj at tampabay.rr.com

Proud member of the Florida Contest Group, check out our website at:

http://www.qsl.net/fcg

or

http://www.fcg.club

if your browser doesn't support the new domain names yet!


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